A 70-year-old building firm boosted turnover by more than £25 million after securing contracts with Rolls Royce, BMW and Johnson and Johnson.

Cardy Construction, based in Canterbury, increased its revenues to £67.6 million in the 12 months to the end of March 2015, up from £41.2 million a year earlier.

However, the company watched operating profit slip to £753,000 from £1.1 million in 2014, despite gross profit increasing to £3.7 million from £2.6 million.

This was affected by rising operating expenses of nearly £3 million, up from £1.8 million, according to its latest accounts filed at Companies House.

Founded in 1946, Cardy’s clients include luxury hotels, London airport VIP lounges and student accommodation schemes.

It has built projects like the Rocksalt restaurant in Folkestone Harbour, Barretts’ BMW dealership in Broad Oak and the QEQM cancer care unit in Margate.

The firm, which employs about 220 people and also has offices in Sandwich and Heathrow, has grown turnover by more than £60 million in the last 22 years.

Its order book of £60 million features student accommodation, motor dealerships and “high-spec residential refurbishments”.

Managing director Michael Stannard said: “Our strategy builds upon our greatest strengths: winning excellent clients and building effective specialist teams.

“We are very privileged to work for many of the foremost clients in the South East and enjoy a healthy workload, on the basis of our ability to perform and our non-contractual and non-adversarial approach to business.

“Turnover and profitability is therefore conservatively forecast to remain at current levels next year with some improvement in profitability in the following year...” - Michael Stannard, Cardy Construction

“Our projects, many of which are complex, bespoke, innovative and fast track, fulfil our clients crucial operational requirements and also enhance their brand.

“Our established blue chip client base and network of design professionals are generous in their referrals and we look forward to working with them again next year.

Pre-tax profits for 2015 stood at £760,000, down from £818,000 a year earlier, and are expected to remain at a similar level next year.

Mr Stannard added: “Whilst we have successfully grown the business over the last five years, we intend to consolidate this growth over the next five years focusing on quality and service.

“Our workload, much of it secured, will remain at current levels for the foreseeable future and is dominated by existing clients and familiar project profiles.

“Turnover and profitability is therefore conservatively forecast to remain at current levels next year with some improvement in profitability in the following year.”